


A World that Cannot Hold

by prettybirdy979



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Battle of Hogwarts, Canonical Character Death, Character Study, Gen, Hogwarts Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-09 11:54:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16449452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prettybirdy979/pseuds/prettybirdy979
Summary: The fighting is paused, the world still as it waits for the next move. The fate of the world lies in what happens in the next few hours.But Lee Jordan doesn't care - he has more important things to worry about right now. Like where his friends have gotten to.He's got to find Fred and George.*********Lee Jordan's only been at Hogwarts a week, but he's beginning to think he might have found the best friends he'll ever have. And they've just come up with the best planever.He can do this; for Fred and George.





	A World that Cannot Hold

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [Nifflers_n_nargles](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nifflers_n_nargles/pseuds/Nifflers_n_nargles) in the [obscuro_2018](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/obscuro_2018) collection. 



> A thousand thanks to Zwaluw, firstly for pointing out the existance of this challenge in the first place and secondly for cheerleading me through the writing. I couldn't have done it without you and the folks in Bakerstreet.

The grounds of Hogwarts have never looked so old. 

Dust covers everything Lee can see as he slowly makes his way towards the Great Hall. Bits of crumbled stone are still falling from the broken ceiling, their thuds punctuating the cries echoing through the castle at random intervals. Pieces of armour lie scattered around the hallway; some so large Lee has to jump over them to avoid tripping.

He waits for a joke to fall from his brain to his lips, something to change the mood, but nothing comes. It’s like there’s a block, some barrier between his thoughts and his lips.

It’s probably a red one.

Lee forces his eyes away from another patch of bright red, averts his gaze from the darker spots by the wall and ignores the dripping coming from behind him. There’s a weight on his chest, heavier than anything he’s ever felt but if he can just make it to the Great Hall - to where his friends  _ have  _ to be waiting for him - he’ll be okay. 

He just has to focus.

******** 

_ He just has to focus.  _

_ Swish and flick. Swish and flick. Focus, the book said, and swish and flick. _

_ He can do this. _

_ ‘Ready Lee?’ Fre- no  _ George  _ \- Lee’s got them figured out now after a week of ever swapping names - asks with a crooked smile. He nudges Lee with his shoulder, the glint of mischief in his eye fading into something Lee doesn’t quite recognise. Maybe… fondness? _

_ Lee nods, biting at his lip. Fred must be in position if George is over here, so all it’s going to take is Lee’s spell and their pla- _

_ ‘Ooooh, ickie firsties!’  _

_ Shit. _

_ Beside him, George mutters something that sounds really awful even if Lee doesn’t actually understand what all the words mean. Have to grill the twins later on their swear words.  _

_ If they survive this. _

_ Please let them survive this. _

*********

Please let them have survived this.

For the first time since starting his long trip, Lee starts to look for red. The Great Hall is full, people collapsed against, beside, or on top of the surviving tables. A few bits of red catch Lee’s attention but no; those are just Gryffindors in tattered uniforms, from years below him and he can’t seem to focus enough to remember their names.

Someone has had the bright idea to set up refreshments and a few younger students are running around with cups of water. Dennis Creevey is one of those students and Lee’s heart pounds to see him darting between bloodied students and teachers with a endlessly full cup.

But the bright crest on Dennis’ uniform is not the red Lee’s looking for.

Where are the Weasleys?

They’re always the most obvious group in a room, a bright beacon no matter where they are. Noisy and proud, you always know when there’s a group of Weasleys around. Hell, Fred and George make enough noise for a small army by themselves, why can’t Lee hear the-

A woman is weeping, loud in the way only Mrs Weasley can be, but she’s not alone. Lee looks towards the other side of the hall, the part he’d blocked out in his mind because it’s where they’ve lined up the dead.

Arthur Weasley is weeping too.

Lee can see Fred, on the other side of the Great Hall.

He’s not moving.

*********

_ Lee can see Fred, on the other side of the Great Hall. He’s not moving, frozen in place as Peeves approaches Lee and George with a delighted grin. _

_ ‘Ickie firsties! And what are the ickie firsties doing?’ _

_ George takes a deep breath, but Lee’s brain must be running on autopilot because he’s speaking before he even realises his lips are moving. _

_ ‘Chaos,’ he says and has to bite back a grin. ‘Got a few fake spiders and thought we’d stick them in some cups before dinner.’ _

_ Peeves tilts his head and out of the corner of Lee’s eyes, he sees George start to grin. ‘We would’ve liked to make them move with magic, but none of the books say how,’ George adds. Across the hall Fred starts to move, bounding towards them with a delighted grin on his face. _

_ ‘Chaos you say?’ Peeves says as a nodding Fred joins them. ‘A lot of it I presume?’ _

_ ‘As much as possible!’ Fred declares, moving to Lee’s other side so he is surrounded by the twins. And above them, is Peeves with a look on his face. A look Lee’s never seen on someone adult shaped before. _

_ The look on Peeves’ face fills Lee with a warm wonder. _

*********

The look on Peeves’ face fills Lee with frozen horror.

Peeves is hovering just above what’s left of the Gryffindor table, one more face amongst the ghosts of Hogwarts that are lingering with the living here. There’s a few more faces than Lee remembers - and he has to swallow the vomit that follows this thought.

He keeps looking at Peeves though, unable to look back at his best friends’ family. 

At his best friend’s body.

It has to be a mistake - that’s _ not  _ Fred. It can’t be Fred, it has to be someone else.

But Lee’s thoughts can’t drown out the cries of the family. They can’t erase the sight of George’s face…

George’s _ face.  _

There are no words Lee can find to describe the wrongness of a universe without Fred in it, but he doesn’t need to. All he has to do is point at George’s face… it captures the emptiness that is a world without the third part of their trio.

‘He’s not going to come back,’ Peeves says, breaking Lee out of his thoughts. His voice is.. Odd. Almost subdued. Certainly quieter than Lee’s ever heard it.

Blinking, Lee meets the poltergeist’s eyes. ‘What?’

‘He’s not going to come back!’ Peeves wails, moving into Lee’s face. ‘So stop looking at the ghosties for him!’

‘...I wasn’t,’ Lee admits, the words feeling like he’s surrendering something important. Like hope maybe, though it’s more like realising he never had it in the first place. 

‘They say he died with a smile on his face,’ Peeves whispers, each word said slowly and carefully, almost as if he doesn’t quite understand the meaning of them in that order. Like the time in sixth year when Lee tried to learn French to impress the girls at Beauxbatons and had to fuddle his way through the foreign language.

Lee just nods. The news feels right, so much as anything in this situation can feel right. For the first time since he saw Fred, he feels something pricking through the numbness. 

A tear runs down Lee’s face, the first of many.

********

_ A tear runs down Lee’s face, the first of many. _

_ He tries again to swallow his laughter but he can’t quite manage, not with the way he’s now crying. Beside him, Fred falls off the bench as George pitches into him both of them not even bothering to swallow their laughter. _

_ They’re the only ones not trying to outrun the herds of tiny fake spiders Peeves is dropping from the ceiling.  _

_ At the head table McGonagall is screaming at Peeves, while Dumbledore watches with a twinkle in his eye. Chaos reigns around them as students try to flee the falling spiders, their cries almost as loud as McGonagall’s.  _

_ This is the best day of Lee’s life. _

********

This is the worst day of Lee’s life.


End file.
